Neymar injury sends host Brazil into somber mood

Brazil soccer fans sit outside the Sao Carlos hospital where Brazil's soccer player Neymar was taken after being injured during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Brazil and Colombia, in Fortaleza, Brazil, Friday, July 4, 2014. Brazil's team doctor says Neymar will miss the rest of the World Cup after breaking a vertebrae during the team's 2-1 win. (AP Photo/Renata Brito)

Fans hold a cutout showing Brazilian player Neymar with a sign that reads in Portuguese '"Strength Neymar, Brazil will win," before the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Argentina and Belgium at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, Brazil, Saturday, July 5, 2014. Neymar, the biggest football star in Brazil, was ruled out of the rest of the tournament after fracturing his third vertebra during Friday's 2-1 quarterfinal win over Colombia. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A somber mood spread over Brazil on Saturday as football fans slowly came to grips with the loss of star striker Neymar, whose fractured vertebra knocked him out of the World Cup.

Brazil’s top newspapers featured front-page spreads of Neymar on the turf after he took a knee to the back during the 2-1 quarterfinal win over Colombia, crying out in pain. The host nation’s hopes for a sixth World Cup title had rested mostly on the shoulders of the 22-year-old forward.

The cover of top sports newspaper Lance stated simply: “Play For Him.”

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Lance’s online version included headlines the “The sixth title will be for him!” and “The Brazilian team is going to bleed for Neymar.”

Rio de Janeiro’s O Globo paper headlined its special Cup section: “Without him, can it be?”

Yet hopes weren’t completely stamped out.

Juca Kfouri, one of Brazil’s most influential sports commentators, wrote in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in a column titled “Impossible?” that, yes, Brazil faces an immense challenge against the powerful Germany team in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Neymar is out and captain Thiago Silva is suspended, after picking up two yellow cards.

“The Germans are not only the favorites, they’re a sure thing,” Kfouri wrote. “And therein lies the danger — for them.

“Free of the shame of possibly not making it to the semifinals, the Brazilian side is now the underdog confronting mission impossible. The fans heading to Mineirao this Tuesday will be there with the core feeling of `I Believe’ — and they’ll be hoping for a miracle.”

That sliver of optimism was felt among some fans on the street, too.

Brazil is infamous for grinding bureaucracy that makes the simplest of tasks seemingly impossible — which many believe has made the Brazilian people more creative, more resilient and has given rise to an entire philosophy known in Portuguese as “jeitinho”— or the Brazilian Way.

Simply put, it’s the ability to resolve an tough situation using imagination, connections, subterfuge or sheer will and skill.

“Our `jeitinho’ should help Brazil overcome Neymar’s absence,” said Leandro Santos, a 30-year-old restaurant manager in Sao Paulo. “Brazilians always find unexpected ways to deal with problems and setbacks — and I think that’s what this team will do.”